Resident Hedgehog
by Caboose2814
Summary: I am the ultimate life form, I shouldn’t have any thing to fear.' Shadow thought with a smug smile slowly crossing his face, but as an echo of howls coursed through the night air, a very terrifying thought crept across his mind: 'should I...'
1. Fear can't kill you, but

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and co. or anything in Resident Evil; every thing else is mine, MINE I SAY.

A/N: This is my first horror fic. It's basically about some of the Sonic characters put into the Resident Evil story line, or at least my interpretation of it. I hope you like it.

It was a bright summer evening, about 65 degrees, with a cool afternoon breeze coming up every now and then. Normally it would have been the perfect time for a brisk run through the woods in Knothole city, however, this was not Knothole city. It was a strange mysterious place to the black critter now striding though them. _Why did I let Sonic talk me into this,_ he thought with a slight chill. _ It'd be fun he said, nothing like I've ever seen, he said. Please, I'm over 50 years old and can travel up and down the Himalayas in a matter of seconds. What HAVEN'T I seen. _

He turned his head to glance at his blue traveling companion; he was a small blue hedgehog with quills that fell down along his back giving them the look of overly extended hair rather than prickly spines. Shadow was amazed at how relaxed he was, just walking as if they where strolling through Knothole on their way to pops diner. It was like he couldn't sense the presence of… something… unnatural. It felt as if it was drifting through his entire body and then back out into the evening air. Maybe it was because he didn't have the power of chaos coursing through his veins. _That's right I have the power of chaos control, I am the ultimate life form, I shouldn't have any thing to fear._ He thought with a smug smile slowly crossing his face, but as an echo of howls coursed through the night air, a very terrifying thought crept across his mind:_ should I?_

At first the howls made Sonic flinch, expecting to have one of the stray dogs in these woods come bonding out of the under brush, and tearing into him with its sharp fangs. But then he remembered that the dog probably had never seen any thing like him before, and would just as soon find something else to do. They where all most to the mansion that Sonic had told Shadow about, it was a very eerie looking place that at first glance looked abandoned, but after Sonic had gotten a little closer he could hear people in side, playing some weird game with cards he had never seen before. The men kept referring to something called " life points" and " sacrificing". After that he had decided that he would return later with Tails to scope the place out with him, he would never admit it to any one, but this place scarred him, it terrified him, which was why he would never come back here again with out some one to watch his back. When he finally got Tails to go with him they heard lots of hacking, coughing and moaning in the house, they hadn't actually gone inside, but the sounds where creepy enough, which is why he had decided to take Shadow here, give him a little scare to prove that he wasn't as prefect as he thought he was. _Tails and Amy should already be inside waiting for us, and when we get inside they'll make a few noises to creep him out and then once where in the back yard…BOO! Heh heh heh, we'll scare him shitless._ As they drew nearer to the mansion Sonic couldn't help but notice that the mansion was filled with a dead silence, something that was not there when he was here a few days ago, but unknown to the little hedgehog was that that wasn't all that had changed in the mansion.

As the duo drew close to the mansion doors Sonic caught something out of the corner of his eye, as he turned up to see what it was he discovered that it was a helicopter of some kind that seemed to be malfunctioning, since black smoke rose up from the night air and into the heaven of stars glittering over head. As it made a slow spiraling plunge into the forest, Sonic was able to catch a logo of some kind that he could have sworn he had seen before. It finally clicked in his head where he had seen it before as the words next to it almost seemed to come alive as the fading sun glinted off of them. It read " S.T.A.R.S." As Sonic stared up at the craft, now reaching the horizon of the forest, Shadow noticed that there seemed to be a slight touch of horror on his friends face.

"What's wrong?" he asked in his deep voice.

"That helicopter." Sonic replied in a daze.

"What about it?" A slight touch of worry in his voice.

"It's form the same people who tried to take me to the G.U.N. military base, the S.T.A.R.S. team." Memories flooded back with each word, flying in the heilo, boarding down the city main street, meeting Shadow for the first time, infiltrating Eggman's hidden base, and the final battle with the Biolizard, worst of them all was watching Shadow die again, and the helpless feeling that came along with it. He hated that feeling; he hated more then Dr. Robotnic. All his life he had been able to help people, but as Shadow went plummeting into the earth's atmosphere, he was stranded above with in the ark, normally he would have jumped right out to save his double, but the energy from the chaos emeralds had faded and the air lock was shutting fast. So he was forced to watch Shadow burn up in the troposphere with a flash of purple light, luckily though that flash wasn't him burning to a crisp, but using Chaos Control to warp back down to earth, where Eggman had found lying on the shores of Station Square. The doctor had planed on using Shadow's DNA to form an army of ultimate life forms. Once the cloning process was complete he was shut in suspended animation until Rouge found him. After she released him they found Omega, the last of the E-l00 series, and with his help the three where able to help defeat Eggman and destroy the rest of the clones, foiling Eggman's plan. After that he moved in to Knothole with everyone and help the freedom fighters against Dr. Robotnic. And now they where on their way to a creepy mansion in a weird forest just so he could freak him out, and a S.T.A.R.S. helicopter descending not to far away.

"Well, if their here maybe we should head back?" Shadow said a little spooked.

"What? Your not Scared are you?" teased Sonic.

"O-of course not. Something just doesn't feel right." A slight chill ran down his spine as if to confirm that his statement was true.

"Well, if you're not scared then, by all means, after you," a sly smile flashed over his face, but was then quickly replaced by a look of wonder, as the doors to the mansion slowly creaked open to revile what lay inside.

And so the nightmare began.

A/N:  Yay, my first horror fic! Yay! I hope you enjoyed it and if you would like to see more just say so and send me a review, I would like at least 5 reviews before I post the next chapter, and remember to tell your friends.


	2. In the darkness lies your fears

The mansion was like nothing Sonic hade ever seen, a red glossy carpet rolled down the first set of stairs into the main hall, the actual floor itself was covered in a beautiful tile that looked like some kind of marble. The pillars that traveled up along side the stairs where modeled after those found in ancient Greece, to him, this place was beauty and wonder like he hade never seen. To his left was a huge set of double doors that looked like they where big enough to hold an elephant in, at least to the three foot high creature that was now slowly striding towards them in a slow trance. As he carefully brushed his gloved hand over the surface of the oak doors, he couldn't help but whisper "Wow."

Although the word would have been inaudible to human ears his dark double could hear them quite well as he examined the two sets of doors on the other side of the hall, and replied with a joking smile " That's the understatement of the week"

In truth Shadow couldn't have been less interested in his counter part if he tried. Instead he was more interested, no, fascinated with the doors on his side of the hall, for he could almost feel some kind of pull urging him to see what lie beyond. When he took a step forward he could swear that he felt some kind of darkness that had been buried in his heart for longer than he could remember. The darkness pulled at his mind to open the door, to set it free, and fulfill his curiosity of what lie behind its cold wooden frame. He was now just inches from the door, and the darkness felt as if it was screaming at him to grasp the metal handle for all he's worth and PULL! Pull like his life depended on it, and let the darkness consume him, let it carry him away into a place of eternal peace, a place that could lie just beyond the door. As he laid his hand on the cool metal of the doorknob, a jolt of energy coursed through him, and now the darkness felt too strong, to strong to resist, to strong for him to feel fear of what may lie beyond the void known as the door. And yet, he hesitated, just for a moment, a light shone through the darkness, and begged him to stop, to think of the people who still needed him, the girl Hope, Knothole, and even the humans who despised him so much, but it was just for an instant, and when the light was consumed in the darkness, a fire was lit in his eyes, a fire some would call, lust. Others would call it rage, but most, would call it madness. With the fire blazing, he slowly began to turn the knob, and with every milometer that that knob moved the darkness, and the fear, grew with in him. Just as the door was about to be opened, a hand fell upon his shoulder, and with a slight jump he awoke from his trance.

" SHADOW! Hey, are you doing ok?" Sonic asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

" Yeah, I think so." Shadow himself looked confused, and even as he spoke the darkness in side of him was burrowing itself into his heart. Waiting for its next chance to rise up and seize control.

"Come on, lets check out the upstairs." Sonic said with a soothing smile.

"Yeah, upstairs" a distant look occupied his face as Shadow tired to remember what he was doing so close to this door, as he marched up the stairs following Sonic. He could feel that the answer was at the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't remember! The answer was gone now, just like the darkness, and the flame that had burned in his eyes. Shadow was wakened form his thoughts with a loud click.

"Hey, I think this one's opened." Sonic said, stifling a laugh as Shadow walked through, unsuspecting of what lay a head. _The idiot, he's almost as gullible as Knuckles._ What Shadow hadn't known was that he and Knuckles hade come back after he scoped the place out with Tails. It was spouse to be a test to see if he could scare Knuckles, and if he could he would then set his trap for Shadow. While they where exploring he and Knuckles had found a sword key that had let them up here and a stone and metal object that hade granted them access to the courtyard. Sonic hade decided to cut it short here and made Knuckles scream like a little, well, as Arnold would say 'girly pants'. Now he was back with Shadow walking through a u-shaped corridor, when they reached the other end they miraculously found another door that wasn't looked. After Sonic hade done some protesting he finally got shadow to go down stairs and into the L-shaped corridor that would lead them into the out side. As they hade drew closer to the turn in the hall Shadow said he could hear some kind of moaning, like when you have a really bad headache or a fractured rib. Sonic hade dismissed it as Shadow's imagination, but instantly regretted it. For when he turned the corner, everything he hade ever believed about magic, was dismissed in a whirlwind of fear.


	3. You can't escape your fears

At first Sonic had to whip his head around to avoid the wretched stench coming from down the hall, but once his nose got over the shock of smelling rotten flesh he was able to slowly turn his head around to see what was causing the stink. What he saw would be imprinted in his memory for the rest of his life. It was about five feet tall with ragged clothes clinging to its moist rotten skin. All over the body of this… this, thing was patches of detached flesh slowly flaking off of the arm, leg, or even the neck. As bad as these details where, they where nothing compared to the face, the face looked normal enough, except for the fact that the entire left half seemed to be completely torn off like a bad scab. What was left was a huge grotesque smile that once formed the mouth; its eye was slowly rolling from side to side in its socket. The rest was just decayed muscle, and tendons. Altogether it was one of the most gruesome sites he had ever seen, or ever would. As the decayed monster slowly started to lurch towered him with a sickening scrunch, Sonic had to fight the urge to throw up all over him self. He lost, horribly.

Shadow was a few paces behind Sonic and not fully around the turn, but when he heard his pal toss his cookies, he dashed into the hall questioning Sonic as in a hurried voice that went almost to fast to catch, "What's wrong?"

"Ugh" was the only response Sonic could spit out, the rest was bile and used up chilidogs, he was how ever able to point past Shadow at the limping threat that had now put in a double time at the sight of two fresh meals. When the black animal turned to face his opponent, he was expecting anything, from a robot army to the cool face of Chaos 0, anything but what he saw. At first he was shocked, but then instinct kicked in and after that every thing was a blur. He was jumping at the monster, shouting "CHAOS NIGHTMARE!" A purple orb flashed around his closed fist, he was thrusting it into the air at the things head. Contact. He could feel the flesh twisting in the orb of purple light. Then the head exploded sending blood every where, skull flying through the air like shrapnel, chunks of skin and brain hit was with a sickening splotch sound, one of the pieces of skin bounced off the side of his own mouth, some of it even smacking the inside leaving a stain of blood before falling out. When Shadow landed he almost threw up then and there, but his pride wouldn't let him. And so with a swallow of spit he was able to force the bile back down into his stomach where it belonged, but along with the bile came the blood left on the inside of his mouth, down the throat and into his system, where the virus would grow and grow, until it would cause a transformation in the ultimate life, that not even his dear creator, Professor Gerald, would have been able to predict. But as the virus grew, the virus that had started it all, the darkness would grow to, causing a transformation of its own.

"You going to be O.K. Sonic?" Shadow asked flicking his hands around to get the blood off.

"Yeah, thanks for the save man." He stated whipping bile off his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Heh, chilidogs, I should have know" a teasing smile on his face.

"Oh, shut up" He turned his head to hide his embarrassment, but then decided to change topics to something a little more serious. "So… what do you think it is, or was for that matter."

"In all truth, I have no idea. It's nothing like I've ever seen. Looks like you where able to full fill your promise after all," The teasing grin resting comfortably on his cheeks.

"I haven't seen any thing like it either."

"So what do you think it is."

As Sonic walked pass Shadow to get to the corpse now sprawled on the floor, he felt a slight chill when he passed his double, as if a cool artic wind had swept up, but before he could ponder if anything was wrong his mind dismissed it as an open window near by. When he finally got up to the remains of whatever it had been, he had noticed that the skin was decaying at a faster pace then normal. Almost like it was dispersing into the vary air. But even seeing the remains of it was enough to reassure his mind of what it was, he had seen all the movies about them, in fact that would explain why it had fallen so quickly when Shadow had decapitated it. "I think, I think it's a Zombie." He's voice was quivering, not at the thought of what it was, but if these things where real, how many of the other things could be real, Like the Werewolves, Vampires, Swamp monsters, and even Frankenstein.

"Do you think there could be any think else out there, you know, like Werewolves or something," Sonic's hands where shaking lightly above the corpse lying on the floor. His mind swirled with images of what may lye ahead in this forsaken place.

"No, no I don't think there is anything else out there, at least nothing like that," Shadow then looked down at the Zombie on the floor for a moment before raising his head up to stare at the back of hall before responding to some unasked question. " I don't know how I can be sure of this, but it's as if I can feel it in my bones."

Sonic stood up for a minute, his face twisted into an uneasy frown. It was as if he was trying to decide between his pride and survival. At last he made a decision. As he looked up at shadow there seemed to be something there that his friend had never seen before, and it took him a while to place it. It was shame.

Sonic shut his eyes for a moment, and then taking a deep breathe he spoke, and what came out was a shock to Shadow. "I guess we should get Amy and Tails and leave, if there are more of these things around." After seeing the look of shock on Shadow face, he gently lowered his head to stare at his shoes instead of the accusing gaze on his doubles face.

"You what?" Shadow asked confused with a bit of anger seeping into his voice. _How could sonic be so stupid? How could he bring two little brats to this place, and how could he have thought to bring me here? How could he have thought to endanger MY LIFE? _As Shadow pondered these things the flame that had been in his eye before had returned, with doubled vigor. And with the flame came an emotion that the black hedgehog was not a complete stranger to. He had felt this way many times before, at Rouge's incompetence, at Eggman for being so clumsy with the Eclipse Cannon, and at Sonic for obliterating his dream of revenge for Maria along with the Eclipse Cannon.

Sonic slowly bowed his head and continued to explain how he had been here before both with tails and Knuckles. By the time Sonic had finished the anger Shadow had felt was slowly changing into a seething pot of rage. "You idiot! How the hell could you bring us here? What made you think that you could drag us into a dangerous mansion with monsters roaming about! How dare you do this to us, you shouldn't even be allowed to live for this, and yet here you are standing in front of me telling me that you brought us into a house full of monsters! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Shadow now had Sonic backed up against a wall yelling his head off at the quivering blue hedgehog in front of him. As scared as Sonic was by this sudden and violent mood swing, he was even more shocked at how Shadow was now threaten him in a most disturbing manner. When he tried to reason with the black creature in front of him, he was quickly shot back by the onslaught of rambling coming from Shadow.

Finally Sonic could take no more, and with a quick smooth motion he was able to cut shadow off with a quick slap to the face. Shadow was quite taken back by this and stopped just long enough for Sonic to get in "I know I screwed up Shadow, but that's no reason to bite my head off. What's wrong with you?"

As Sonic's voice slowly drifted down the hall Shadow stopped to think about what he had done, never before had he lost his cool like, not even when that bumbling idiot of a doctor failed to pull off his scheme with the cannon. But the only answer that came to from his lips was "I don't know, I don't know."

And as an uncomfortable silence drifted over them Shadow couldn't help but stare at his trembling hands and wonder what had happened to him, and what was to come.

A/N: hey guys, I just wanted to thank you for all the reviews. So far I have ten, and that's the most I've ever gotten. Now for some bad news. It seems that this is stating to get in the way of some of my homework, so this might be the last chapter for a while. I hopped you enjoyed this; personally I don't think it's the best. Remember to check up often and keep on reviewing.


	4. Evil lurks in the Shadows

A/N: why do you guys keep assuming that Knuckles is here, I don't remember saying any thing about him being here now, maybe he won't appear in the story at all, did you ever think of that!

After Shadow's little "episode" the pair hade walked out into the courtyard with an awkward silence hanging between them. And when they came across another zombie, Sonic dispatched it easily by sending a sidekick into his spine and snapping it like a twig. When that was over they continued down the path, Shadow still seemed to be contemplating what happened back at the mansion. So much so that when they came across a little cottage nestled neatly in the surrounding forest, he ran right into the corner of it. As soon as he hade gotten done cursing the house a slight snicker escaped Sonic, however, it was quickly cut off when Shadow sent a death glare his way.

The door to the cottage opened easily with out a sound, and as they crept further in a small whimpering noise could be heard escalating from a box further down the hall. Sonic could have sworn he hade heard this voice some where before, and when they opened it he was overwhelmed with feelings of relief and pity. For huddled in side was Amy Rose.

"S-sonic," she stuttered, the amazement showing brightly in her blood shot eyes. The tear lines running down her checks looked like old dried up rivers, just waiting for the next shower of tears. At the same time the bags hanging under her eyes where deep and black giving her the look of someone who hadn't slept for days. Her hair was sprawled across her head in every direction imaginable, and all of these things put together made the usually sparkling Amy Rose look like she hade been to hell and back.

"Amy, what happened to you, and where's Tails?" as Sonic spoke he was swept with concern for the pink little fuzz ball in front of him, and his dear friend which was no where to be seen

"Oh Sonic!!" she cried springing from the box and clinging on to him for dear life. As she buried her head into his warm chest fur she could feel the hot sting of tears as they rolled down her face.

"MeandTailscamehearjustlikeyouaskedbutwefoundthesezombiethingsand... and..." Amy shoved her head back into the forest of his fur before Sonic could catch her crying again.

While Sonic continued to try and shush her Shadow decided to take a look around, and as he went on down the hall further into the cabin he discovered a cellar door, it almost looked like a trap door. It was held tightly in place by a padlock of some kind, covered in rust and cobwebs it looked like it could be broken easily. Shadow didn't know how to explain it, but he could feel it in his bones. Something a lot more lethal then those decaying freaks out there was coming their way, and in the end he decided to break the lock anyway, just to be safe.

When he finally got back to Sonic and Amy, he saw that the blue hero hade managed to get his unofficial girlfriend down to sniffling over his shoulder, and as Amy saw him walk in a quick smile flashed upon her lips before she rested her face back in her love's fur.

"How's she holding up?" Shadow asked gently stroking the quills on the top of her head. As he did this Amy's body suddenly shook all over, Shadow and Sonic believed it was because of shock, but in reality it was because when Shadow hade touched her a cold chill fell across her like a blanket resting over a new born. This chill reached down into her very soul and on a subconscious level Amy knew that before this night was over their lives would be changed forever, one way or another. "She should be fine in a couple of minutes." The hero replied patting her on the back, and as if proving Sonic's point Amy bobbed her head up and down in agreement.

After he stroked her head a few more times Shadow looked up and said "I think we need get out of here as soon as possible." When Shadow spoke there was a slight click, and almost seconds after the click a low shuffling sound could be heard from where Sonic and Shadow hade come in followed a soft creaking sound. The trio dismissed it as nothing more than curtains moving in the wind next to an open window somewhere.

"Do you think you can stand Amy?" Sonic asked gently trying to lift her to her feet by lightly pulling her up under the arms. "Yeah, I think so." She whispered with a slight sniff.

Amy hadn't noticed it before, mostly because she was to relieved to see Sonic, but both of her legs hade completely fallen asleep from staying cramped up in that little box for so long. Now that she stood up she could feel the pricks and pins begin to crawl up and down her legs as the blood started to flow again. The numbness in Amy's legs caused her to stumble forward, but luckily Sonic was there for her, like he hade been so many times before. His hands snatched out to catch her before she even got close to hitting the ground, and as one of his arms fell across her breast a small fluttering feeling began to stir in her stomach. "It's okay Amy, I'm here. Come on let's get out of here." Sonic assured her as he began to lead her to where they hade come in, and where a sinister force was also waiting to spring its devilish trap.

While Sonic helped Amy regain her balance he heard Shadow's foot steps as the black hedgehog continued down the hall. When the noise grew soft enough to the point where he could barely hear them, there was a slight pause followed by a sudden crash causing him to snap his head up in surprise. "It's nothing Amy. Come on, this way." Sonic said, but Amy couldn't help but notice the panic rising in his voice.

As the pink little girl looked up to see what was wrong, she heard the sound of screeching sneakers as Shadow darted from around the corner shouting "Not this way! Not this way!"

Before she could register what was happening the dark blur of Shadow was already past them and heading for the back of the cottage. Then the shuffling sound from earlier hade returned, combined with a low groan. That was more than enough to get the bewildered pair moving again before what ever it was hade a chance to turn the corner and confront them. When they reached the back of the cottage shadow was standing there holding open the little trap door he hade found earlier motioning for them to hurry up by twirling his forearm in a tight circle.

Sonic was the first to go down the ladder; his hands barley touched the poles as he slid downward with one foot on either side of the poles holding the rickety old thing in place. Once he hade reached bottom Amy soon followed suit, but she was far from able to muster up the courage to mimic Sonic's lead, so she simply followed by scampering down as fast as she could. Once Amy was safe on the ground Shadow nimbly jumped the thirty feet from the door to the wet ground below pulling the door shut after him. As his feet touched the ground he let out a little grunt while a small cloud of dust arouse to encompass Shadow's waist.

"When the hell could you do that?" Sonic asked, awestruck at the feat his dark counter part hade just pulled off. "Since now." Shadow replied with a little smirk, and as he spoke Amy could hear the creak of old hinges as what ever was after them followed them down their little rabbit hole.

"Um, guys... I think we need to get out of here." As soon as the tiny pink creature was done stating the painfully obvious another creature responded with a chorus of low moans and groans.

Sonic and Shadow didn't need any more encouraging after that, they just picked up there legs and headed for the nearest exit, which was a dark cave leading into the bowels of whatever hell awaited them. For when the three emerged from the thigh deep water that was drowning out there path, what they saw was one of the strangest sights they would ever see. What lay before them was a cave that hade been formed over centuries of decaying rock and limestone, but it wasn't the cave its self that stunned the hedgehogs now standing with in it, it was the decorations. The cave was filled with candles of every kind; some were even dangling from the ceiling by chains. On the walls rested old torn up rag dolls, there must have been hundreds of them because the place was filled with the smell of rotting towels about the air, and seemed to be more of a shrine than some things living quarters.

"Can we get out of here now?" Amy asked huddling behind Sonic as if every flickering shadow was a demon ready to spring to life and snatch her way into their own dark dimension, and as they headed away from this twisted little nightmare a golden box caught Sonic's eye, glittering in the artificial light of the candles. Once he hade reached the box he found it to be locked, but as he picked it up for closer examination he found a little picture near by with writing on the back. As he was about read the message Amy's squeaky voice brought him back to reality pleading that they push on ahead.

When they moved forward Sonic lead the way again, until that is they came upon a square platform with a coffin resting peacefully in the middle, and as Sonic knelt down to examine the fatal drop into the abyss he heard foot steps coming towards them. As he swung his head up to see what was coming, his vision was filled with red and a shrill scream stretched across the night.


	5. Death of a hero again

As the scream died down a stunned silence slowly filled the room, that is until it was shattered by the sound of Knuckles breaking out in hysterical laughter. And as the echidna doubled over in delight Amy couldn't help but join the fun, and when Sonic's face turned a bight shade of red even Shadow let out a few chuckles shaking his head from side to side in amazement. "And you said that **I **screamed like a girl?" Knuckles said as tears of joy streamed down his face.

By the time every one had calmed down Sonic was able to regain whatever was left of his dignity, which wasn't much. Unfortunately Knuckles couldn't help but let out a few more chuckles as Sonic dusted him self off. "So what are you doing here Knuckles?" Sonic asked glaring fiercely at his rival.

"Tails sent me after he found out what was going on here, he has the Tornado 2 parked up on a heli pad not far from here. He said that you guys could use all the help you could get, and judging by how you screamed Sonic, I'd say he was right." Knuckles said taking one last jab at Sonic's sissy shriek.

"So that's where Tail's went when he left me," Amy said, remembering when the little fox had tucked her away in the box. She had waited for what had seemed like years before Sonic and Shadow showed up.

"Well, if he's waiting for us we had better not disappoint him." Shadow said turning toward the latter Knuckles had descended from. Sonic couldn't put his finger on it but something seemed different about Shadow, but by the time he figured it out it would be far to late.

As the rest of the team turned to follow Shadow's lead a low groan swept across the room sending a fearful chill down their spines. Almost every one was frozen in fear when the terrible sound swept across the room again, every one but Shadow, and as he turned to face the abomination that would dare to impede his escape from this veil place he could feel the anger and hatred rise up with in him. As he faced the creature that had been following them he was slightly astounded by its appearance. It's face, or at least where Shadow thought it should be, seemed to be covered in masks that very disturbingly resembled human faces, its small scrawny arms stretched from its humped over shoulders down to the floor where its wrists were held together by a solid piece of brick. The things legs where shackled together and its body was covered in rags that looked like they had been on it for years from all the deterioration. And as it let out another scream of torment it lifted its hands over its head where they paused for a second before they came crashing down in a slow arch that made the brick on its wrists smash into a near by pillar, then using the momentum from the first swing it let them fall back to the left where the brick once again smashed into another statue that caused the gate behind to clang shut followed shortly by the click of metal bars sliding into place above. As the four of them continued to stare at the monster that had just sealed all hopes of escape Sonic realized that one of his worst fears had come to face him. For he was now trapped in a room with one of umbrellas more deadly experiments.

As the creature continued to lumber towards them Shadow couldn't help but clench his fist in rage. This thing would dare to challenge **_him_**, the ultimate life from, and the most powerful weapon in the world? Well, he would just have to show it a thing or two about what real torment was like. "Sonic, this things mine. You hurry and find a way out of here, I'll have this thing begging for mercy before you know it," with his final words echoing across the walls Shadow unwittingly dashed to his death.

As all the normal effects of his super speed set in Shadow summoned the power of chaos around his left fist, aligning it with the monsters head Shadow was just a few feet from it ready to rain down death and destruction, but before he hade even taken another step a sharp pain erupted in his right temple that sent him flying into one of the four statues that stood sentinel at the corners of the platform. The force of Shadow slamming into it caused the stone figure to slide back a couple of inches so that it was now balancing over the edge, ready to fall into the abyss at any second. Shadow grabbed the structure as he slowly stood up shaking his head to rid it of the dizziness that resulted from the blow. Whatever this thing was it was faster than Shadow had thought, but it wouldn't matter now. Cause Shadow never made the same mistake twice.

This time when he rushed towards the creature he made sure to watch the hands so they wouldn't catch him off guard again. Unfortunately he was to busy watching the hands to notice the tentacles erupting from its back, and by the time Amy shouted in distress the strange appendages were already wrapped tightly around his neck chocking the life from him. While Shadow struggled for air the tentacles easily lifted him into the air, and the creature slowly turned its head in fascination. It had never seen anything like this before, was it another umbrella monster, or some thing else, could it be tamed to be the things friend? While the creature continued to stare Shadow snapped his foot up into its chin, sending it into another fit of blinding rage, and as the grip on Shadow's neck tightened the thing once again brought it's hands up to slam the brick into the rib cage of the black hedgehog. Shadow could feel every rib in his body crack and snap as the stone weapon continued to plow into him, luckily though the force of the blow also snapped the tentacle around he's neck sending him head long into the coffin that nearly tipped over from the impact.

As shadow once again slowly stood up he felt no pain from the wounds inflicted upon his battered body, the pain always came later, after the adrenaline had finished coursing though his veins. And when he looked back up at the creature staggering towards him he knew there was no choice left, he would have to use his trump card. There was a very high possibility that the trick would kill him in the process, but he would take that risk to protect his friends.

Shutting his eyes shadow began to focus the chaos power within him, building it up to the point where he could feel its energy coursing though his very being, the warmth of its power soothed Shadow as its purple aura began to surround his body. Finally opening his eyes he saw that the monster was half way from the first figure he had crashed into and the walkway it had come from, targeting a spot in between Shadow used every ounce of his will to shift his molecules from across time and space to appear on his desired spot. Then releasing the power stored up in him Shadow shouted "Chaos Burst!!" creating a vortex of distorted time and space to swirl outward from him sending the stone figure over the edge and the monster sliding backwards kicking up dust from beneath its heels.

Having spent almost all his power in that finale attack the ultimate life from slumped to one knee, finally feeling the eruption of pain that covered his entire body. While Shadow knelt there clutching his sides in pain he heard the monster release a sound that could have only come from the bowls of hell its self. He could even feel the vibration of its feet as it rushed towards him determined to kill that which had caused it so much pain and suffering. Slowly getting to his feet Shadow felt the warm rush of blood flowing into his lungs from the many holes his fractured ribs had made, he knew he was going to die. It was inventible; even now if he was able to beat this thing he would die from blood loss or suffocating on his own fluids. So this really was it, never would he had guessed that he would die in such a horrid place, but that didn't matter now. Taking in his finale breath of air the ultimate life from turned to the monster that ended his life, and ignoring the aches and pains that swam through his body Shadow shifted his feet into a left back stance and slowly raised his right hand once again focusing what ever energy he had left into it. And as the creature quickly closed the gab between them their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, but even for that second shadow saw something he would have never expected to see, tears. Was this thing really as evil as he first thought, or was it simply scared and alone, fighting for its own survival as some strange creature pummeled it for no apparent reason? These new thoughts that swirled across the black hedgehog's mind caused him to hesitate for a second or two, but that was all the monster needed to bring its hands crashing down across the side of Shadow's head. At first his vision faltered as he spun towards the edge but as things began to clear up he caught one last glimpse of his friends before falling into the oblivion that awaited him below.

AN: well here is the last chapter of the year, I hope you guys had as much fun with this as I did, but before I sign off for 2004 I have one last question I would like to ask you guys. Should I keep Shadow dead or bring him back in some way? On one hand if I keep him dead that would shorten the plot a little, but on the other hand I would like to follow up on how the T-Virus continues to affect him. I just don't know what to do, so I'll leave it up to you guys. Just put what you want to happen in your review and I'll decide what to do next year.

And would someone please tell me what the html things are that we can use are. It would really help to improve my writing.


	6. Revenge is best served hot

'_This isn't happening'_ he thought '_this can't be happening again; he already died once. Why does he have to die again?' _ The hot sting of tears slowly began to swell into Sonic's eyes as Shadow's last moments played over and over again in his head, until he felt a warm prickle course throughout his body and the rage began to override the pain and sorrow of watching his friend die before his eyes for the second time. No one should have to go through that, and yet here he was watching the murderer of Shadow the Hedgehog slowly lumber towards them.

Closing his eyes Sonic could feel the rage and furry boil up with in him, granting him power to avenge his friend, because if he couldn't save Shadow then he could at least avenge him. As he slowly bowed his head gathering the power within him there was a slight pull in the air towards the blue hero while the hate and power within him grew, and as that power neared its peak a gold glow started to cover Sonic's body. Looking up form his trance the once sincere emerald eyes that had been there only seconds before were now replaced by a stark white glare, a glare that reflected the power and hate that consumed him.

With a bloodthirsty roar Sonic hurled himself at the creature, his feet barely touching the ground as he zipped around the coffin and body slammed it into the nearest statue. Rolling to the floor the monster lay a few centimeters from the edge of the platform, but a swift kick form Sonic soon changed that. Sliding off the platform the brick that held its hands caught an edge and saved the monstrosity from death, at lest For the few seconds it hung there; slowly trying to pull its self back up and away form the darkness before Sonic began to pummel it back into submission.

The monster futilely struggled to regain its holding on the edge as Sonic's blows continued to hail down upon it, he's rage venting with each blow. The mask on its face slowly deteriorating beneath the force to reveal an almost human face, the only difference was that instead of being all plumb and fleshy like a normal human's the skin seemed to have been torn away leaving behind only morsels of the flesh that once made it human. Its deep blue eyes searched wildly for an opening in the assault to strike back, reclaim some ground; and make a counter strike before it fell into the abyss. The efforts proved to be fruitless as with one last shriek it plummeted into the darkness, leaving only a grief stricken Sonic to return to normal and release all the emotions that had been buried under the anger and bloodlust.

Through all the years Knuckles has known Sonic he had never seen him in such a state. Never had he seen him so filled with rage, with bloodlust, and with power. Sure there where times when he lost he's temper with Eggman, but nothing like this ever happened. It was like he was looking at a completely different person, someone that he had never seen before. Like a side he had kept hidden form the rest of them for whatever reason, and Knuckles knew form experience that if people had something to had it was probably for a good reason, a very good reason. In fact, this was something he would have more expected form Shadow than Sonic.

Shock.

Shock, fear, grief, longing, sorrow. Those where all the emotions swirling through Amy Rose's mind as she watched her self-proclaimed boyfriend drop to his knees and curl up, weeping over the death of Shadow. She had seen Sonic go supper before but nothing like this. This was almost as if he had been possessed by a demon of hate, cruelly lashing out at the monster. She knew the monster was going to kill them, but something about how it struggled to survive reminded her of something. She couldn't quite but her finger on but she had defiantly seen that look somewhere before. It almost seems to fit with Shadow's face, and then it struck. The look was just like the one he had on his face before that monster killed him. With the recollection of memories she too dropped to the floor in tears.

It seemed like it was only minutes ago that the creature had been defeated, but in truth it was hours before they started looking for an escape route. It was hard to believe but they had spent hours just grieving Shadows death, and now seemed that his sacrifice would be in vain after all if they couldn't find a way out of this horrible place. "Damn it! Isn't there anyway out of this fucking place!" Knuckles cursed slamming his fist into a near by corner statue causing it to topple over the edge, which in turn made the coffin lid jerk and the bars that held them captive to give for an instant before diving back into the cold floor.

"Knuckles, what did you do?" Sonic asked trying to raise the sturdy gates.

"Hey, didn't the same thing happen with Shadow…" Amy sniffed holding back the tears. "When he was fighting that monster?" She was barley able to keep from breaking down.

"Maybe, but we where to busy watching Shadow to notice." Knuckles said as he walked over to one of the remaining statues. "And if it did then that means…"

"We would just have to knock down the last two!" Sonic finished for him.

After a bit of preparation and discussion on how to handle the situation they were now ready to free themselves form this hellhole. Knuckles and Amy stood solemnly by the statues ready too knock them over as soon Sonic gave the signal. Since he was to weak form fighting the thing that trapped them in here to begin with he had taken a perch on the coffin. When every thing was set Sonic gave the signal and they sent the statues sailing over the edge and into the darkness only to have the lid of the coffin be yanked off, and Sonic with it. "Yow!" shouted the hero seconds before spinballing off and coming tumbling to the ground.

"Sonic!" yelled Amy rushing to his side. "Are you ok?" she asked helping him to his feet.

"Yeah, I should be fi--ahh." Slumping to one knee the blue hedgehog blindly grouped his back calves looking for the source of the searing pain that racked his body, to find that a gash had been recently ripped into his right calf.

Trying to stand only made the matter worse as the flesh and muscle continued to tear with each movement. "Sonic…" whispered Amy as she watched her hero fall to the ground in pain. Then it hit her, she remembered finding something earlier called 'First-aid Spray.' On the bottle it said it could be used to heal any wound.

"Hold Still Sonic," she said while applying the spray "this should fix you up in no time." When the droplets of chemicals landed on his legs Sonic felt a cold wave of relief wash over his body, in fact he felt better than ever before.

Helping him to his feet Amy carelessly tossed the empty bottle aside where it landed at the feet of Knuckles, and upon further examination he found a horrifying detail Amy overlooked. "For use on human subjects only, do not blend with animal or pets. Unstable effects may occur." He read aloud.

"Heh, what's the worse that could happen?" Sonic asked smirking up at the red echidna. He had no idea of what lay ahead of him.


End file.
